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STEUBENVILLE -- As of Friday, none of the nearly 200 Franciscan University of Steubenville students studying abroad this semester had tested positive or was suspected of having the coronavirus, a university official said.
"If they did, they would be quarantined, I'm sure, under the standards in that country," FUS Vice President of Human Resources Brenan Pergi said. "It would be dealt with under the standards there."
FUS sends up to 200 students each semester to Gaming, Austria, where they "live and learn" in a 14th-century former Carthusians monastery. "Part of the attractiveness of that campus is the Europass and they can go to 30 different countries," Pergi said."They don't travel back and forth between campuses, so they're over there," he said. "That situation is being monitored in Austria -- they have their own regulatory system, how they're handling it. We are monitoring it."
On Sunday, the Austrian chancellor banned public gatherings involving more than five people, ordered restaurants to close and asked people to curtail travel except for work, to buy food and necessities or to help individuals in need of assistance.
Several weeks ago FUS had canceled plans for a 10-day pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi "based on what was happening in Italy," he said, "and we restricted (their) travel to within Austria."
Italy has been particularly hard-hit with coronavirus, and over the weekend nearly 400 people died in a 24-hour period.
Here at home, Pergi said classes will resume by March 23, but for the time being at least instruction will be online only. Face-to-face class instruction has been suspended "at least until April 3."
"Everything is going to be online…at least through April 3," he said. "And students don't have to return to campus until April3. We'll know a little more by then. That's not a hard-and-fast date, it will depend on circumstances. (We'll monitor) what happens in the next two weeks nad make a decision whether to continue the semester online. It gives us time to see how things develop."
All sponsored events, including events sponsored by student groups will be adjusted, postponed or canceled as appropriate -- we're screening each event to determine what the appropriate action will be, and we're looking at other methods for social distancing," he said.
"We're trying to mitigate the risk as best we can. There is no cure for it. The only way to address it effectively is by containing it, so we're doing everything we can to mitigate risk."